The use of plastic disposable containers and trays for packaging, distributing, food are widespread in the marketplace. Due to safety concerns, as in the drug and pharmaceutical industries, the use of tamper evident and tamper resistant medicine containers are commonplace. Similarly, the food industry is demanding that food containers also incorporate tamper evident and tamper resistant features.
These tamper evident features typically include structural design elements which, when the container is tampered with or opened, enable the consumer to easily visually recognize such tampering so that the product can be rejected. Besides ensuring product safety, such tamper evident and resistant elements are important for, among other things, deterring theft and preventing the loss of product and income for the seller, as well as inspiring consumer confidence in the integrity of the contents within the container, and confidence in the ability of the seller and/or manufacturer to provide and maintain quality goods and food products.
Currently, tamper evident shrink preforms or shrink bands with vertical or horizontal perforations are widely used to seal the lid on food containers. There are advantages to this method as it provides a visible indicator that the product is tamper proofed, and the tearing of the band indicates that the product has been tampered or opened. However, the use of these bands is quite expensive. Adding the tamper evident shrink preform or band typically includes an extra step and a secondary process requiring heat to be applied to a typically polyvinyl chloride (PVC) band and shrink it to thereby seal the preferred opening of the packaged food item. Although, this sealing method is effective and renders the product tamper evident, the secondary process is expensive as it requires the purchase of the shrink banding equipment, labor and operating costs, and the cost of the PVC shrink perform material. All of these secondary processing steps add to the cost of the food container package itself. A key advantage of these preform shrink bands are that they are ubiquitous in the marketplace, are intuitive and easy for consumers to use.
Furthermore, it is also important to include consumer-preferable design elements, such as lid re-application features that are reliable and easy to operate, along with tamper evident and resistant features that deter tampering, and clearly indicate whether tampering has occurred. They are also reliable without being burdensome to the legitimate consumer.
There is a need to provide the food industry with a re-closeable food container that has a lid with an integrally formed tear away band that serves as the tamper evident feature, thereby eliminating the need for the use of the PVC preform shrink band, and eliminating the operating and labor costs to put this band on the container. Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a food tray container that meets these needs.